Bicycles

Today, it seems as if bicyclists are forced to either ride on the sidewalk, pushing pedestrians away, or to merge onto the street, getting in the way of drivers. Bicyclists should have lanes made especially for them on every street. Our city needs more citizens riding bicycles because it helps prevent pollution and obesity. Trying to create a safer environment, the L.A. County Bicycle Coalition and the city of Glendale are asking citizens to take a 34-question survey, and everyone should get involved.

Janine Marnien LA CRESCENTA -- Worms, caterpillars and bicycles normally don't have much in common, except for this weekend when all three will be topics of story time hours at the La Crescenta Library. Preschoolers will hear stories and participate in crafts that will help them learn about worms and caterpillars during "Wiggling Tales" story time. Preschool story time is at 10 a.m. Friday. Families can hear stories and participate in crafts about bicycles in honor of National Bike Month.

Rosemont seventh grader Abby Brown and eighth grader Sam Nernati were the first place winners of the Rosemont Anti-Drug essay contest. Their essays on different approaches to say 'No' when offered drugs won them each a new bicycle. A committee of teachers, administrators, parents and community members that meet once a month to discuss ways to reach out to children about drugs, peer pressure and the day-to-day challenges teens meet came up with the contest idea. Krista McMillian and Rosemont's resource officer Steve Toly arranged the contest and the first-place prizes.

For the homeless, part of the challenge of securing a job is finding a way to get there. It's a problem 45 fewer transients on Skid Row will have to cope with after dozens of high school students from Glendale, South Pasadena and La Cañada Flintridge handed out gleaming new bicycles Sunday morning. The group of 20 students - who regularly volunteer at homeless services agencies in downtown Los Angeles - donated the 45 bikes after months of fundraising with the idea that a steady ride would help some clients more easily get to work.

Darleene Barrientos Before taking presents like scooters, skateboards, bicycles or roller-blades for a spin, don't forget to put on knee and elbow pads and a helmet. The Glendale Police Department wants to remind parents to buy, in addition to the recreational toys themselves, the appropriate safety equipment for them. Wearing a helmet on a bicycle reduces injuries by 80%, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. "It's universal across all these types of equipment that helmets should be worn," commission spokesman Scott Wolfson said.

Alecia Foster DOWNTOWN -- A pair of teens were robbed of their bicycles by two young men outside a shoe store, police said. The two Glendale teens, 16 and 17, were leaving the Shoes for You store at 224 West Colorado Street Thursday evening when the incident happened, a police report stated. The two were stopped just outside the store by one young man who asked where they were from, the report stated. One of the teens, fearing for his safety, got off his bike and ran into the store to call 911, the report said.

The car-versus-bicycle debate continues in Glendale (“' Road diet' plan a recipe for disaster ,” Feb. 10) with our current chapter, the Honolulu Avenue “road diet.” Lots of good potential puns on that one. So far, responses have been from drivers who don't want to lose what they consider their paved turf, and this is the crux of the debate: turf wars. Streets aren't about cars or bicycles, they are about transportation, and transportation comes in many forms: legs, buses, skateboards, scooters, bicycles and cars.

GLENDALE — While some local high school students will be hitting the beaches this summer, others are looking to make a difference for homeless men and women living on Skid Row. Teens from the student-run LOOK International group, who attend four area high schools in South Pasadena, Crescenta Valley, Glendale and La Cañada, plan to collect at least 100 bicycles and donate them to homeless men and women on Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles....

Judy Seckler FREMONT ELEMENTARY SCHOOL -- When students said "Hi Ho Silver!" they weren't talking about horses. The school's PTA organized a bicycle and pedestrian rodeo for enthusiastic for students and parents Saturday. Safe Moves, a nonprofit agency dedicated to saving kids through safety education, created the program. The company constructed a set on the school playground that looks like a city street. Children rode through the course and received valuable safety rules.

The Foothill Car Wash will be sponsoring a two-day Charity Car Wash to help raise funds to benefit Crescenta Valley Sheriff’s Station Sgt. Randy Rousseau. This two day event will be between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. today, Friday, and tomorrow. Patrons who purchase a $10 raffle ticket will receive a free Executive Car Wash (Valued at $19) and a raffle ticket for the chance to win a pair of specialized bicycles. The raffle drawing will be on June 3 at the "Help a Hometown Hero" pancake breakfast at Mayor’s Discovery Park, 1800 Foothill Blvd.

About $138,000 is slated to pay for bicycle improvements in Glendale following a City Council vote this week, symbolizing a small step forward as officials try to implement an ambitious $5.8-million Bicycle Transportation Plan approved more than a year ago. The funding, which comes from a Los Angeles County grant, is set to primarily cover markings and signage along six Glendale street segments including Broadway between San Fernando Road and...

Here is a traffic regulation violated so often in Glendale that I don't think many know it exists: 10.64.025, bicycle riding on sidewalks: “No person shall ride or operate a bicycle upon any public sidewalk in any business district within the city except where such sidewalk is officially designated as part of an established bicycle route. Pedestrians shall have the right of way on sidewalks. The prohibition in this section shall not apply to peace officers on bicycle patrol.” Not only is it violated often, but daily I see bicyclists traveling at speeds exceeding 20 mph on sidewalks, weaving around pedestrians.

This letter is sent in response to the letter from Phillip Settle in the June 27 Mailbag (“Note to council: Stay out of La Crescenta”). Settle should get his geography right. The proposed Honolulu Avenue road diet is not in La Crescenta, but in Montrose/Verdugo City. It is an excellent cross-section area of Glendale, with businesses, residences and senior residences to do such a study. I hope the Glendale City Council sticks to their earlier vote and on July 10 votes to go forth with this great idea.

Bicycle lane advocates and residents who'd prefer to keep the status quo packed City Council chambers Tuesday night for the latest scrimmage over a plan to put a one-mile stretch of Honolulu Avenue on a so-called “road diet.” In January, the council approved the road diet - cutting one traffic lane in each direction from Honolulu Avenue between Ramsdell and Sunset avenues to make way for designated bike paths - with little opposition....

A city proposal to make a portion of a street in Montrose safer for bicycles met with strong opposition among those who attended a series of public outreach meetings, officials reported. The proposal would cut one lane from a one-mile stretch of Honolulu Avenue and use the space for dedicated bike lanes - a so-called “road diet” that proponents say will make cycling safer. But of the 85 people who attended two outreach meetings in March and April, 80% were opposed to the project, according to a report to the City Council.

Community leaders, already working to improve local bicycle infrastructure, are targeting some of the city's youngest riders. The Glendale PTA Council and Walk Bike Glendale have teamed up to provide bicycle skills classes for local school-aged children, with the first taking place Saturday at Fremont Elementary School. The free classes will start at 10 a.m., noon and 2 p.m., and will included helmet fittings and bicycle checks. The classes were scheduled in anticipation of the first Bike to School Day, which will take place Wednesday.

Glendale's plan to improve infrastructure for bicycle transportation was welcomed with open arms Tuesday by most on the City Council, which, despite differing opinions, gave city officials the OK to move forward with the upgrades. The first of its kind in 15 years, Glendale's new draft Bicycle Transportation Plan includes recommendations for new bike lanes and routes, coloring in some lanes, adding more shared lane markings - known as sharrows - and even slimming down some roads to make way for dedicated bicycle lanes.

The following were taken from daily booking reports from the Glendale Police Department. AREA 1 100 block of North Isabel Street Anahit Galstyan, 58, was arrested March 5 on suspicion of petty theft. Ani Hovanesian, 43, was arrested March 7 on suspicion of trespassing. Venera Vasilyan, 60, was arrested March 7 on suspicion of petty theft. East Colorado Street and Lincoln Avenue Dustin Baldaro, 31, was arrested March 7 on an outstanding warrant for being under the influence of a controlled substance.

The car-versus-bicycle debate continues in Glendale (“' Road diet' plan a recipe for disaster ,” Feb. 10) with our current chapter, the Honolulu Avenue “road diet.” Lots of good potential puns on that one. So far, responses have been from drivers who don't want to lose what they consider their paved turf, and this is the crux of the debate: turf wars. Streets aren't about cars or bicycles, they are about transportation, and transportation comes in many forms: legs, buses, skateboards, scooters, bicycles and cars.

About a mile-long stretch of road near the Montrose Shopping Park is set to lose one traffic lane in each direction as it is reconfigured to make way for designated bike paths. The so-called “road diet” is the first step to making Glendale streets safer for bicyclists, City Council members said as they approved the change Tuesday. “I believe that traffic safety is a huge issue and a huge crisis in this city,” said Mayor Laura Friedman. The road diet will cut two lanes out of the four-lane Honolulu Avenue between Ramsdell and Orangedale avenues and replace them with a designated bicycle lane next to the parking section of the street, followed by one lane in each direction and a shared left-turn lane in the middle.